‘Moscow Bomber' was Teenage Widow

Russian authorities say they are almost certain that one of the suicide bombers who attacked the Moscow Metro on Monday was a 17-year-old girl from Dagestan, reports BBC News.

The girl, Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, is believed to be the widow of a senior Caucasus militant killed by Russian security forces late last year. Dagestan, like nearby Chechnya, is struggling to quell militant violence.

The morning rush-hour bombings killed 40 people and injured more than 80, most of whom are still in hospital.

"One of the female suicide bombers, who blew herself up at the Park Kultury metro station, was Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, who was born in 1992 and lived in the Khasavyurtsky region of Dagestan," said a statement from Russia's National Anti-Terror Committee (NAK) carried by the RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies.

A police spokesperson said earlier that the suspect had been married to a leading Islamist militant, Umalat Magomedov, who was killed by Russian security forces at the end of last year.

A photograph of her published in leading Russian newspaper Kommersant bears a strong resemblance to a picture of the remains of one of the suicide bombers.

The identity of the second bomber has not been confirmed, but Kommersant said she may have been the widow of another Chechen militant killed last year.

Abdurakhmanova is believed to have travelled to Moscow by bus with the other female suicide bomber from the Dagestan town of Kizlyar, near the Chechen border.

Unnamed Federal Security Service (FSB) officials say Magomedov was an associate of Doku Umarov, the Chechen rebel leader who claims he ordered Monday's metro attacks. In a video message posted on a rebel website, Umarov warned Russians to prepare for more attacks.